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SoftBank-Led Consortium to Lead Japan's 1 Trillion Yen National AI Initiative

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Japan has selected a consortium backed by SoftBank Corp.(TYO:9434) to spearhead a five-year national project developing a homegrown multimodal AI platform, with total public investment expected to reach 1 trillion yen.

The initiative, overseen by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), will see the consortium called Noetra Inc. supply the core model while AIST will collaborate with research institutions to advance the technology, according to a joint statement on Wednesday.

Noetra, a joint venture led by SoftBank Corp., includes major partners such as NEC Corp. (TYO:6701), Honda Motor (TYO:7267), Sony Group (TYO:6758), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (TYO:8306), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (TYO:8316), Mizuho Financial Group (TYO:8411), Nippon Steel (TYO:5401) and Kobe Steel (TYO:5406).

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